Lettuce Production

The company's NASA SBIR research efforts determined
a rate of biomass production for lettuce in an horizontal
Aeroponic chamber (Fig1). After 30 days of growth the
production was compared to previous methods of research.
The results of the show that there was 80% improvement
of dry weight bio-mass over NFT and soil technologies
using Aeroponics.

Figure
2 and 2a demonstrates the affect of substrate on root
biomass development. The thicker substrate (used on the
left plant of Figure 2a) is thought to retain more moisture
between misting cycles, resulting in reduced root biomass
in early development. Together with modified nutrient
solutions, proper selection of substrate could ultimately
increase harvest index. The study showed companion of
other crops including wheat was possible using the same
parameters.

Aeroponics
can limit disease transmission since plant-to-plant contact
is reduced and each spray pulse can be sterile. In the
case of soil, aggregate, or other media, disease can spread
throughout the growth media, infecting many plants. In
most greenhouses these solid media rsequire sterilization
after each crop and, in many cases, they are simply discarded
and replaced with fresh, certified sterile media. A distinct
advantage of Aeroponic technology is that if a particular
plant does become diseased, it can be quickly removed
from the plant support structure without disrupting or
infecting the other plants.

. Additionally,
the nutrient solution throughput of each of the systems
was estimated. shows how nutrient solution throughput
in the Aeroponic system is moderate compare to that of
conventional NFT and even the soil substrate technologies.